An immigration bill

aiming to crack down on “sanctuary cities” is pulled ahead of a key vote by a Senate panel, a sign that the issue is in trouble nearly halfway through the legislative session.

TALLAHASSEE — A contentious immigration bill aiming to crack down on “sanctuary cities” was pulled ahead of a key vote by a Senate panel Tuesday, a sign that the issue championed by House Speaker Richard Corcoran is in trouble nearly halfway through the legislative session.

The bill would prohibit cities from enacting policies that prevent or inhibit local law enforcement from working with federal immigration authorities.

Bill sponsor Sen. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, suggested he didn’t have the votes to get the bill through the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I have determined that the language presented to you today does not yet meet the concerns of the committee,” he said.

About 150 people packed the room to hear the panel take up the bill, many of whom were immigration activists.

“We wanted the bill to die today and that’s what we were counting on, and that’s obviously why they [postponed] it,” said Charo Valero of the Florida Latina Advocacy Network. “So we’ll be here next week.”

Although the bill is not dead, it faces a serious hurdle in Judiciary, where South Florida Republican Sens. Anitere Flores of Miami and Rene Garcia of Hialeah have joined Democrats to block conservative bills favored by the House.

The bill would crack down on cities with sanctuary policies by imposing fines of $1,000 to $5,000 for each day the policy is in effect after Oct. 1.

“Sanctuary policies” are defined as those that prevent local law enforcement officers from complying with federal immigration requests to detain, interview or share information on suspected illegal immigrants in their custody.

West Palm Beach was one of 23 cities across the country threatened with subpoenas by the Department of Justice last week to comply with requests for communication with local law enforcement officials. The city passed a resolution last March declaring it a “welcoming city” that would not assist with deportation orders unless specifically required to do so by federal authorities.

A similar bill passed the House last week. Corcoran, a likely GOP candidate for governor, had named it as a top priority.

His Watchdog PAC political committee released a TV ad Monday that highlights the bill. The ad features a man in a hoodie shooting a woman. It’s a supposed reenactment of the death of Kate Steinle in California in 2015, a case which galvanized conservative opinion against sanctuary cities. Garcia Zarate, an illegal immigrant who had been convicted of seven felonies and deported five times, was charged with murder but was acquitted last month. He remains jailed on gun charges.

Corcoran has not officially announced his candidacy but he has been squabbling with declared Republican candidates Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis on social media.

Democrats slammed the ad as a cynical attempt to gin up racial resentment in the crowded Republican gubernatorial primary.

“It’s race-baiting, it’s ugly, and it’s meant to terrify white Florida,” said Rep. Evan Jenne, D-Dania Beach.